ELY- The third Ely Film Festival starts next week at Ely’s Historic State Theater at 238 E. Sheridan St. This year’s event is even bigger than before and starts next Wednesday, one day earlier in the week than last year. For those wanting to attend, some shows have already sold out. Tickets and festival passes are available at elystatetheater.org/ely-film-festival/.
Because of the demand, the festival has now scheduled additional showings of the first eight shows to sell out on Wednesday and Thursday, March 19-20. “Please let festival pass holders know that the passes will include any of the showings we’ve added on those two days,” festival director Jacob White told the Timberjay.
Boundary Waters
“Anyone wanting to see ‘Boundary Waters,’” Jacob cautioned, “should consider getting their tickets soon. The film has less than 50 tickets left spread between the two showings on Wednesday and Saturday.”
The Saturday showing of the indie film will be followed by a Q&A with Tessa Blake, the film’s director. “Boundary Waters” was filmed on location in Ely almost two years ago, and features Ely locations and local extras.
Festival events
This year’s festival includes 109 original films including 24 feature-length movies. The programming is a mix of 31 showings of features and blocks of shorts.
“We’ll have over 45 filmmakers attending this year,” White said. “We’ll have 14 Q and A’s with filmmakers after showings and a track of panels free for the general public at the Ely Folk School across the street from the theater.”
The festival schedule includes a dozen extra events like the free panels at the folk school and mixers for pass holders with filmmakers. The extras are spread around downtown, with locations at St. Anthony’s, the Ely Senior Center, and local restaurants.
“All the programming is online and in the festival schedule,” White stated. The schedule is a 44-page newspaper-sized booklet which will be available at the theater next week.
New booking system
This year’s film festival features a new ticketing system on the website. “You don’t need to print every ticket and bring them with you anymore,” White explained. “Pass holders only need their lanyard and pass with its QR code, and we have their tickets stored in the system. All they need to do is show up.
“Every online ticket purchase will be confirmed with an email, and the email will be good too as proof of a ticket … Frankly, all a person really needs to do is tell us their name at the door and we’ll find their tickets or pass-holder reservation to a show.”